Good Morning Green Panda Friends. If your personal finances are less than perfect then we are here to help you with some easy steps to organize your finances. Very often we discuss the goals we are working towards and the steps we need to take to achieve our goals. However, we seldom discuss what to do if our finances are already less than perfect.
US News released an article titled 10 New Money Tools for Young Adults. It discusses free ways for us to create and track our budgets, set and follow our goals, as well as responsibly manage and pay off our debts.
Check out these Free Money Tools for Young Adults:
Go to Mint.com. They are listed as the number one Free Money Tool for Young Adults by US News. I have to agree 100%. I personally use Mint to track my monthly spending, follow progress on my personal goals, and manage my debt. You can instantly download all of your bank account, loan, and credit card information into Mint. It is very easy to set a budget as well as personal goals such as retirement planning, paying off debt, and saving for a major purchase. Mint is available for both young Americans as well as Canadians. If you have not yet tried Mint, I suggest that you sign up today…it’s totally free!
Read Personal Finance Blogs. Most personal finance blogs offer free budget spreadsheets for their readers. Next time you are reading posts on your favourite personal finance blog check out the free budget spreadsheets and other financial planning tools they offer. Personal Financial Bloggers usually recommend their favourite financial tools, as well as tools that have helped them in the past. To view Personal Budget Spreadsheets recommended by Green Panda click here.
Visit Your Financial Institution. Not in person, but visit their website. Many Financial Institutions offer free financial tools right on their website, consider it as virtual financial planning advice. Next time you log into your online banking with your financial institution check out their free financial planning tools and calculators.
Register for Online Receipt Organizers. If you are like me then you never carry cash, however we are probably the minority of consumers. For everyone who doesn’t like to use their credit or debit card for their every purchase, Myreceipts.com offers a free way to manage your paper receipts.
Avoid Impulse Purchases. US News suggests using online wish lists. We can add items that we want to our personal online wish list, if we still want the time or need the item next time we log in to the website then we can buy the item. I always leave a week delay for my purchases to avoid impulse spending. If I see something in a store that I want on Monday I walk by again on Friday, if I still want it or need it five days later then I buy it. This strategy usually works because five days is a long time to talk myself out of something.
Other Free Money Tools for Young Adults Include:
– Bundle.com
– Payoff.com
– Billlshrink.com
– YouNeedaBudget.com
Photo by Robert Couse-Baker
Tahnya is 30 years old and lives in Montreal Quebec. She graduated in 2005 from Concordia University, and she currently works for a major International Financial Institution. She recently launched http://www.mediamadam.ca/. You can follow her on Twitter @TahnyaP.